A Beautiful Mess
by munchkineater
Summary: After an earthquake killed her brother, Heatherfern can't see past the hurt in her heart. But will one day succeed in shattering her shell? Oneshot challenge from DarkClan about the theme a beautiful disaster. Enjoy!


Heatherfern trotted next to Hailclaw, jaws full of prey. Liontail and Barleypaw padded close behind, each carrying two mice and a bird. The hunting patrol was on the way home after a morning in the woods.

As they neared camp, Heatherfern slowed to admire the entrance. This was her first time out after an accident that had broken her leg. She hadn't left the medicine den for two moons after she'd fallen from the Tall Oak.

Two tall pine trees rose from the ground on either side of a wide bramble thicket, forming half of an arch around the concealed entrance. Behind the trees, a golden cliff was visible, gorse and heather dotting the rock wall. Trees surrounded the camp on all sides, except that side with the cliff.

"Enjoying the view?" Barleypaw mewed, turning to look at his older sister. Heatherfern purred, then shoved him playfully.

"You haven't been stuck in camp for three moons," she retorted, humor gleaming in her eyes. Barleypaw made a face.

"I also wasn't stupid enough to try and climb the Tall Oak!" Barleypaw chuckled. He continued in through the camp entrance. Heatherfern rolled her eyes, then followed him under the bramble thicket.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Tree Stump for a Clan meeting!" a tortoiseshell she-cat yowled from on top of a thick stump. Cats spilled out of various bushes, and out of the cliff wall. The tortoiseshell gazed down contently at her Clan, pride sparkling in her green eyes. "I, Turtlestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has worked hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Barleypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Barleypaw sat below the tree stump, eyes glowing with honor. "I do," he swore in an unwavering voice.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Barleypaw, from this day forward, you will be-" Suddenly, the Tree Stump began to quiver. All around Heatherfern, the earth began to shake, the trees swaying without the wind. She collapsed, unable to stand on the rumbling ground. Turtlestar howled in pain, and Heatherfern looked up to see her leader pinned under a rock, fallen from the cliff face.

"Get _away_ from the cliff!" Blackbriar, the deputy, howled. Heatherfern pounded over to Turtlestar, joining Barleypaw and Cloudfang in lifting the rock. After a couple of heartbeats, the three cats rolled the rock off of Turtlestar, who lay unnaturally still.

She gasped, coming alive again. "I've just lost a life," she panted, getting to her paws. "Heatherfern! Watch out!" Heatherfern darted the side, just barely managing to avoid being crushed by a huge rock. "Get away from the cliff!"

Heatherfern didn't need to be told twice. She turned tail and fled the camp, trying her best not to fall on the unsteady ground. She joined the rest of her clan in the clearing outside of the camp. After what seemed like forever, the earth ceased to shake.

Hesitantly, Heatherfern padded back into her camp. When she saw it, all the air whooshed out of her. "It's... it's gone!" Fallen rocks littered the ground, covering all the earth under the cliff. Only one den had been left almost unscathed. Most of the warrior's den still stood, only a piece of it collapsed under a tree. The rest was buried.

"Thornfur! Thornfur where are you?"

"Lichenkit? Gorsekit?"

"Barleypaw! _Barleypaw!_" Heatherfern turned in horror to see her mother, Dawnbreeze, calling for her little brother. She raked her gaze across the pile of rocks, searching for something, anything, to show that her little brother was alive. "No!" Heatherfern darted over to where her mother sat, crouched over a patch of brown fur. As she drew closer, Heatherfern realized it was a tail. A tail that looked an awful lot like her brother's.

"Barleypaw! You were just about to become a warrior!" Heatherfern wailed, hunching over the pile of rocks that buried her sibling.

* * *

The clan padded sullenly through the forest, searching for a place of refuge. After a day of mourning, Turtlestar had led the clan onwards to find a new camp.

Heatherfern walked next to Dawnbreeze and a new warrior named Raggedfur. "Barleypaw was my denmate," Raggedfur blithely commented. "We used to always play mossball when we were in the nursery too. He was really fun to be around." Raggedfur laughed softly, thinking of past adventures. Heatherfern closed her eyes, feeling broken inside just thinking of Barleypaw. "I'm going to miss sharing almost everything with him. What are you going to miss most?"

Heatherfern remained quiet, lost in her own thoughts. Raggedfur persisted. "I remember you'd sometimes come and join us in our games, when you were an apprentice and we were kits. We thought you were _so cool _because you were so close to being a warrior," he purred. Heatherfern looked at him hollowly, her eyes glazed.

"I remember," she whispered faintly. Raggedfur dipped his head forwards.

"Look up there. I thought Tangleheart and Thrushfeather were bitter enemies," he meowed. Heatherfern tentatively lifted her head. Sure enough, the she-cats were walking side by side, laughing even.

"Looks like they worked out their differences."

"And I'm pretty sure Skyblaze is going to the nursery soon. And not with Redfern's kits," Raggedfur pointed out. The pale gray she-cat was padding beside Russetclaw. Not the ShadowClan warrior everyone knew she fancied.

"How in the name of StarClan can you talk as if nothing's wrong? My brother just _ died_. So did two innocent kits! And an elder!" Heatherfern wailed. She glared fiercely at the dark gray tabby.

"Because for all the bad that earth shaking did, it did an awful lot of good too," Raggedfur explained. At a look from Heatherfern, he tried to talk out what he was thinking. "Well, for one thing, it made friends from enemies. And it turned a disloyal she-cat back onto the right path. Look around you! Our Clan is growing closer, we're healing each other. You can look at the earth shaking as a horrible tragedy that killed your brother, or as some kind of... beautiful disaster that brought us all closer and healed the hurts in our hearts."

* * *

**Third oneshot! What did you guys think of it? Good? Bad? Too cheesy? I don't know unless you review! **

**~munchie**


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